The National Association of Realtors is shaking it up at the top once again.
The group announced Thursday that CEO Bob Goldberg is stepping down sooner than expected. It tapped Nykia Wright to serve as an interim CEO effective Nov. 20 while it searches for a permanent leader.
Goldberg revealed in June that he planned to retire from the organization at the end of next year, but he decided last month to step down, according to his statement in the group’s press release.
“Now is the right time for this extraordinary organization to look to the future,” Goldberg wrote in the statement. NAR said he would serve as an executive consultant to help with the transition.
The move, first reported by Housing Wire, comes just two days after a jury found NAR guilty of colluding with two major brokerages to inflate commission costs charged to home sellers. If the judge confirms the verdict, NAR, Keller Williams and HomeServices of America are potentially on the hook for over $5 billion in damages.
Goldberg took the stand during the three-week trial in Kansas City to defend the organization against accusations that it promotes a standard commission charge across the industry. During his testimony, he disputed claims that NAR trains its members on commission amounts to charge their clients and that membership fees are determined by commission rates or income.
The group — the nation’s largest with over 1.5 million members — is also facing two other antitrust lawsuits over broker commissions. One case, known as Moehrl, is headed for trial in Chicago early next year. The other was filed just minutes after this week’s verdict and names a new set of brokerages as co-defendants.
Ahead of the verdict, Goldberg and other NAR leaders came under fire over a sexual harassment scandal involving former president Kenny Parcell.
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Parcell resigned over the allegations in September, but a leaked memo indicated that other NAR leaders were aware of the accusations before they became public. Staff members of the Chicago-based organization called for Goldberg and others to resign following The New York Times’ investigation into Parcell’s alleged misconduct.
Goldberg, whose tenure at NAR has spanned 30 years, took over as CEO in 2017. He will continue on as a consultant to oversee the leadership transition.
Wright is a former financial services consultant turned executive and entrepreneur. She served as the CEO of the Chicago Sun-Times during its merger with Chicago Public Media WBEZ. She also co-founded an audio and audience engagement software startup called SonicMessenger.